Speech

6 Reflect on Your Path

This project is designed to give you an opportunity to share your experience at the end of your path.

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to reflect on your growth during the completion of an entire path.

Overview: At a club meeting, present a 10- to 12-minute speech to share your experience completing your path. Use this as an opportunity to reflect on how far you have come, summarize the skills you have learned and developed, and to celebrate your achievements. Your speech can be humorous, informational, or any style that that appeals to you and supports your speech content.

Speech timings: 10:00, 11:00, 12:00

Script

Toastmasters is a cult, it’s the 21st century version of the free masons. We secretly meet every week; nobody really knows what we do, and we think that we’ve found a way to success and power…a way that nobody else has figured out yet.

Cult or not, I have bought into it. I am extremely proud to be giving my last speech as part of my pathway: “Engaging Humour”. Over the past 18 speeches, over the past two years, TM has taught me invaluable lessons in public speaking and “communication”.

It has taught me how to have presence on stage: how to captivate an audience with my words. It has taught me to deal with those angry butterflies that attack your stomach like hungry beasts when you’re about to come up on stage: afraid that you’ll forget your words. I’ve also given online presentations, where I’ve learned that people can actually tell when you’re reading from a script (oops!). As a Swiss, TM has not, however taught me to stay on time, as we can see today, we are already XX minutes behind schedule. But, most importantly, I’ve learned to not say “Thank You” at the end of my speech, thanks to Felix.

However, all of those are somewhat expected lessons from an organization that prides itself in teaching public speaking. Today, I’d like to focus on those lessons I learned which might not be as obvious and might not be directly related to public speaking. I especially cherish those lessons because they are not just an artifact of TM, they are the result of the incredible community and environment that has been built here, over the years, at CBT.

First, is diversity. In this room, we have around XX nationalities, there are about XX people per country. This is crazy, apart from the UN, you will never find this kind of diversity, not just of country, but of faith, mindsets, occupation and ages. Our mini-UN is beautiful because we can learn from each other’s cultures and backgrounds. I learned that Italians are flirty, even well past their fifties, right Carlo? I learned more about sex from Julian, our in-house sex influencer and teacher. I learned from Johnny about neutrality (even as a Swiss), as he is involved in the board of two rival TM clubs, and is still manages to be loved by both clubs.

Although we are so different, there are two things that do bring us together, our irrational fear of public speaking, and our willingness to improve. This inspiring growth mindset creates a deep bond between each other. Despite, or thanks to, this diversity, we created a true family here at CBT. I met incredible friends, mentors and inspirations, although I didn’t find my wife just yet, sorry Yuchen.

Second is reflection. I like to think that I wrote about my personal stories, in a deep way. I talked about how I thought my ex-girlfriend was THE ONE. I talked about my rivalry and self-confidence issues with my better looking (non-identical, obvious you might say) twin brother. I talked about my Turkish ex-MIL, with whom I am still living with. Thinking, writing, and organising these thoughts felt like therapy. I was able to realise some things about the past, about my relationships and friendships, about my family, about love, kindness, regret, and fear. It made me appreciate my friends and family and my current girlfriend even more. It even forced me say nice things about my ex-MIL during my speeches, so I wouldn’t look like a total asshole.

Third, is authenticity. I have tried to be as genuine, open, and vulnerable as possible, and show you my true self. I want to be authentic so that I can attract people that vibe with my mindset and my way of thinking. I’m going to quote myself, from one of my previous speeches, when my parents nearly disinherited me because I pierced my ears(I haven’t shown them my tattoo yet).:

“Being your authentic, friendly self is a great way to self-select out the people you want to spend time with, work for, sell your product to and employ!”

This is when you know you’ve truly made it, when you’re quoting yourself on stage! Jokes aside, being authentic attracts the kind of people you want to be around with. And this is probably the reason why I feel so good and so much at home in this club. I have been genuine, and the club and you guys have responded with kindness, support, and empathy. I feel like you all know me very deeply and intimately, you know the true Thomas. And you’ve accepted me, as my authentic self! I am eternally grateful for that, thank you!

Fourth, is about selling myself. Through my speeches, I have tried to be as authentic as possible, to attract the people I want to be around with. These speeches are a way to show the world who I am, so it is crucial that people outside the club can have access to them. And this is a tip I got from Simon, our past president. A month after I joined the club, Simon gave this exact speech, to finish his pathway. And one of his final tips was to publish your speeches scripts/videos to your social media profile, LinkedIn, personal website or blog. I remember thinking how cool Simon was: finishing a pathway, flowing curly hair and president of the club, and this guy wasn’t even out of uni yet! That’s why I took his tip on board, I wanted to be just as cool as him! And I cannot stress how valuable this tip has been. Countless people have told me that they read some of my speeches on my website and told me they appreciated my honesty and felt like now they knew me better. I will give you a very real example. In July I attended a prestigious summer school with Stephen Wolfram, a famous physicist who created Wolfram Alpha and was a student of Richard Feynman. During the school the admission lady told me that one of the defining factors of my application was her reading my TM speeches on my website. She said that she could really get a sense of who I was as a person and how much of a culture fit I was for the program!

To close this I would like to offer some my own piece of advice to anyone still on their pathway, just starting out, or stuck in the middle, just like Simon gave me this great piece of advice when he finished his pathway. His advice of sharing your speeches was so useful to me. I’d like to add to that, as a complement: be as authentic as possible. By being true to yourself, your emotions and who you are, sharing those speeches will feel sometimes scary, but it will be so powerful because people will get to know you and appreciate you so much more for doing that.

I would encourage all of you, to continue persevering on your pathway, one speech at a time, one feedback at a time, and I promise you will learn incredible lessons. I learned about the beauty of diversity, how important self-reflection is, how to sell myself, and the power of authenticity. I can guarantee you the lessons you will learn will be different, but just as valuable and impactful in your life. I hope that I was a motivator, today, just as Simon was for me, two years ago, to keep on working on your pathway and reap the benefits that the cult of Center Berlin TM offers.